The Iyers had a simple formula - If they earned Rs. 100/- whether Raghu’s salary or Radha’s freelance income Rs.30.00 went towards investments. Of this - Rs.10 went to long term saving, Rs.10 went to short term (1-2 years) needs and Rs.10 went to build an emergency corpus. After a couple of years they had created an emergency corpus which enabled them to start investing that Rs.10 for their children.
Mrs. Iyer watched from the bench her husband swing and perfect a put on the golf course. Her thoughts went back 32 years when they had just come back from an exciting honeymoon. Her father-in-law sat them down and had a chat that changed their life… or should we say, put their life on track.
Both Raghu Iyer and Radha had been class mates at IIM Calcutta and had married couple of years after they had passed out. They had high flying corporate jobs and were earning handsome salaries. Their background and the position required them to maintain a certain standard of living and they did. Young, enthusiastic and full of energy they were the work hard, party hard type of people and loved it that way.
Raghu had an inkling as to what his father was about to say that evening. Appa was a disciplined man and had a certain way with everything. Now, he would ask them to take stock and live a more sober life which meant cutting down on their wardrobe spending, lesser partying, they will have to travel economy and avoid going on a shopping sprees on impulse. This whole planning for the rainy day thing was boring and budgeting was something they hated to do. Actually Raghu dint know of a single person who loved budgeting. So they dreaded the meeting.
But that evening, Raghu’s father told them just one thing that let them live life king size then and now. Initially for the first few months it was a bit tough, but things started falling in place quickly. Then came the children - twins and Radha was forced to quit full time working. This was a conscious decision; however, it did impact their cash flows. But they still went ahead and bought the house they had identified and upgraded their Maruti 800 too. Their annual vacations were sacrosanct and it provided both the Iyers and the children exposure to different parts of the world.
Relatives and friends envied them but took solace in the thought that with this kind of lifestyle, the Iyers would have to compromise on their long term and retirement savings and would be reduced to be dependents on their children when they grow old.
The children did well and went abroad. Raghu retired early at 55, took up the cause of rural education and nurtures his passion for golf. The Iyers are well settled and would comfortably see through their twilight years in each other’s company. Relatives and friends are still envious of them.
The Iyers had taken their father’s advice seriously and saw to it that their and the children’s future was well taken care of. Radha smiled at the thought of her father-in-laws words that defining moment. It sounded ridiculously simple then but now it seems profound.
“Religiously put aside 30% of your earnings into carefully chosen investments. Spend the rest of the money, the way you want and please”.
It was so simply said, so straight forward yet the Iyers decided to carefully implement it.
The Iyers had a simple formula - If they earned Rs. 100/- whether Raghu’s salary or Radha’s freelance income Rs.30.00 went towards investments. Of this - Rs.10 went to long term saving, Rs.10 went to short term (1-2 years) needs and Rs.10 went to build an emergency corpus.
After a couple of years they had created an emergency corpus which enabled them to start investing that Rs.10 for their children. They adjusted their life around living with Rs.70.00. The short term investments provided for their holidays and indulgences and the children had a reasonable sum of money in their accounts when they went to college.
Of course a student loan was inevitable but that was still fine. And needless to say the Rs.10.00 invested every month for the past 30 years in equities and fixed deposits were a decent corpus when Raghu turned 55.
However in this the magical secret was three things:
- Passivity - they mindlessly took away Rs.30.00 from every hundred and never meddled with their investments.
- All incremental income, annual bonuses or performance incentives followed the same pattern of 30% being invested - 70% being spent.
- And there arose no particular need to withdraw from their long term savings because they had emergency cash, were comfortably insured and planned their fantasy spending plans.
The Iyers are happy people but are a bit shy to share this learning with youngsters. Question them about it and they simply say - “The lesson is just - Spend less than you earn and pay yourself first”.
you have money mantra for IIM Calcutta ppl only.
Lots of laugh
Well Done. This type of stories bring solace to hard pressed now a days Young couples.
Eye Opener ! Every body should follow this and can fullfill their dreams and live life peacefully. Afterall finanace is the cause of each and every problem.
It is simply a story. If you save 30% of your salary balance is 70%. 30% will go to income tax leaving you with 40%. If you are living in a metro and have to pay house rent 25% will go away I do not know how to pull on on balnce 15%. even if you are saving continuously 10-15% and did not touch the investment till yoou retire, that may take care of your life style. I expected better article on investment in the forum than this
It seems so simple but nevertheless it is forgotten.
It will be good if examples are given of avenues where long term, short term and emergency corpus can be invested.
Long Term can be PPF and tax saving MF schemes and stock, post office savings
Short term — Stocks , MF schemes, Bank FD…etc
Emergency corpus– Cash at bank
Please provide more info on the possible avenues which are not listed above